http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/7040409
The ACC has never seen Florida State win like this. In a related development, the ACC has never seen the Seminoles recruit like this, either.
For the first time in school history, Florida State defeated top 10 teams in consecutive games last week, knocking off No. 7 North Carolina and No. 10 Wake Forest. The Seminoles (14-5, 3-3 ACC) will go for three in a row Thursday when they visit No. 1 Duke.
Second-year coach Leonard Hamilton is doing it with an 11-deep rotation that plays ferocious defense and conscience-free offense, chucking more 3-pointers than anyone in the ACC and making nearly 40 percent of them. The style is filling up refurbished Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center and turning Tallahassee, Fla., into a dreaded destination for ACC foes ...
But a haven for a certain type of recruit.
Hamilton has filled his roster with recruits other ACC teams wouldn't touch -- high school vagabonds and junior-college transfers, players with academic backgrounds the more traditional ACC schools view with upturned noses.
A few things must be pointed out.
With the Seminoles' recently awful pedigree, Hamilton plays a hand dealt from a different deck than the ACC powers.
His recruits seem to be on track to graduate and have avoided academic suspensions and police blotters. Hamilton is not bringing mercenaries into the ACC.
But he is bringing in a type of recruit unseen (in bulk) anywhere else in the ACC. This statistic will be galling to ACC elitists who feel their league is academically superior to the SEC: Florida State has two players who were barred from SEC schools for academic reasons.
One is the Seminoles' best player, sublime streak shooter Tim Pickett, who attended two high schools and two junior colleges and committed to two Division I programs before enrolling at Florida State. Along the way he sat out 1? seasons of high school, and a full season of junior college, for academic reasons.
Pickett signed with South Carolina but couldn't play because the SEC doesn't accept transfers who didn't attend their final junior college for at least three full semesters. He then committed to Wyoming, but Hamilton -- in his first few months at Florida State -- signed him in August 2002.
In all areas, Pickett has been a winner. He volunteers at an elementary school for the hearing impaired. He scored 48 points against North Carolina and Wake Forest. And he's on pace to graduate.
The other Seminole shunned by the SEC, freshman center Alexander Johnson, was in Jim Harrick's last recruiting class at Georgia. He was released from his scholarship after Harrick was fired, but commissioner Mike Slive barred SEC schools from recruiting Johnson after allegations arose that another student was asked to take the SAT for him. Johnson has said he knows nothing of the scheme.
Hamilton, who also has rebuilt Oklahoma State and Miami, shared his recruiting philosophy with SportsLine.com earlier this season.
"We always evaluate youngsters on their individual merit and what they're capable of doing in relation to the needs in the program," he said. "We make sure we recruit quality people. I've never felt that it mattered very much whether a kid came straight from high school, junior college or prep school."
Florida State has more juco transfers (three) than the rest of the ACC combined (two). Hamilton signed Pickett and point guard Nate Johnson in 2002, and forward Diego Romero in 2003. He wanted a fourth juco transfer, but forward Antonio Griffin didn't enroll this past fall for academic reasons. Hamilton said Johnson will graduate after this semester.
Like Alexander Johnson, Hamilton's other high school recruits have un-ACC-like backgrounds. Freshman wing Von Wafer attended four schools in three states in his final 18 months of high school. Sophomore wing Benson Callier also attended four high schools and had dropped out for a time. Redshirt freshman forward Al Thornton was a 2002 signee who didn't qualify to play last fall.
Hamilton gets talent. His first full Seminoles recruiting class, featuring Wafer, Romero and Alexander Johnson, was ranked in the top three nationally. His next recruiting class has just two members to date, but guards Isaiah Swann and Jason Rich are considered top 50 high school seniors. Swann is at his third high school in three years.
Hamilton will take him, and the Seminoles will be the better for it.
He has Florida State knocking on the door to greatness -- even if it is a door no one else in the ACC will use.
The ACC has never seen Florida State win like this. In a related development, the ACC has never seen the Seminoles recruit like this, either.
For the first time in school history, Florida State defeated top 10 teams in consecutive games last week, knocking off No. 7 North Carolina and No. 10 Wake Forest. The Seminoles (14-5, 3-3 ACC) will go for three in a row Thursday when they visit No. 1 Duke.
Second-year coach Leonard Hamilton is doing it with an 11-deep rotation that plays ferocious defense and conscience-free offense, chucking more 3-pointers than anyone in the ACC and making nearly 40 percent of them. The style is filling up refurbished Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center and turning Tallahassee, Fla., into a dreaded destination for ACC foes ...
But a haven for a certain type of recruit.
Hamilton has filled his roster with recruits other ACC teams wouldn't touch -- high school vagabonds and junior-college transfers, players with academic backgrounds the more traditional ACC schools view with upturned noses.
A few things must be pointed out.
With the Seminoles' recently awful pedigree, Hamilton plays a hand dealt from a different deck than the ACC powers.
His recruits seem to be on track to graduate and have avoided academic suspensions and police blotters. Hamilton is not bringing mercenaries into the ACC.
But he is bringing in a type of recruit unseen (in bulk) anywhere else in the ACC. This statistic will be galling to ACC elitists who feel their league is academically superior to the SEC: Florida State has two players who were barred from SEC schools for academic reasons.
One is the Seminoles' best player, sublime streak shooter Tim Pickett, who attended two high schools and two junior colleges and committed to two Division I programs before enrolling at Florida State. Along the way he sat out 1? seasons of high school, and a full season of junior college, for academic reasons.
Pickett signed with South Carolina but couldn't play because the SEC doesn't accept transfers who didn't attend their final junior college for at least three full semesters. He then committed to Wyoming, but Hamilton -- in his first few months at Florida State -- signed him in August 2002.
In all areas, Pickett has been a winner. He volunteers at an elementary school for the hearing impaired. He scored 48 points against North Carolina and Wake Forest. And he's on pace to graduate.
The other Seminole shunned by the SEC, freshman center Alexander Johnson, was in Jim Harrick's last recruiting class at Georgia. He was released from his scholarship after Harrick was fired, but commissioner Mike Slive barred SEC schools from recruiting Johnson after allegations arose that another student was asked to take the SAT for him. Johnson has said he knows nothing of the scheme.
Hamilton, who also has rebuilt Oklahoma State and Miami, shared his recruiting philosophy with SportsLine.com earlier this season.
"We always evaluate youngsters on their individual merit and what they're capable of doing in relation to the needs in the program," he said. "We make sure we recruit quality people. I've never felt that it mattered very much whether a kid came straight from high school, junior college or prep school."
Florida State has more juco transfers (three) than the rest of the ACC combined (two). Hamilton signed Pickett and point guard Nate Johnson in 2002, and forward Diego Romero in 2003. He wanted a fourth juco transfer, but forward Antonio Griffin didn't enroll this past fall for academic reasons. Hamilton said Johnson will graduate after this semester.
Like Alexander Johnson, Hamilton's other high school recruits have un-ACC-like backgrounds. Freshman wing Von Wafer attended four schools in three states in his final 18 months of high school. Sophomore wing Benson Callier also attended four high schools and had dropped out for a time. Redshirt freshman forward Al Thornton was a 2002 signee who didn't qualify to play last fall.
Hamilton gets talent. His first full Seminoles recruiting class, featuring Wafer, Romero and Alexander Johnson, was ranked in the top three nationally. His next recruiting class has just two members to date, but guards Isaiah Swann and Jason Rich are considered top 50 high school seniors. Swann is at his third high school in three years.
Hamilton will take him, and the Seminoles will be the better for it.
He has Florida State knocking on the door to greatness -- even if it is a door no one else in the ACC will use.
